#and its the last achievement i need to get to 100% complete the game

[tsuchinokoroyale]

It’s so good to see you.

Lies of P (2023)

[pronoun-note]

I played cookie clicker for the first time last week. I spent days on my laptop and took it everywhere so I could always watch it. I downloaded auto clickers for optimal output. I looked up strategies so I could play most effectively. I was dedicated to making this game perfect so I put as much effort as I could into it. Then, one day I went too far. I am not a patient person. I want what I want as soon as I can get it and am willing to do unspeakable things to do so, consequences be damned. So I entered a few commands. Then a few more. Then, well, I’m sure you can guess where this is going. It was addicting. I literally felt the rush of dopamine that entered my system when I entered the first commands, giving me things that would take months to get normally. So I kept going. And going. And going. Soon after I had completed 100% of the game. And yet… the achievement was hollow. I felt sick, empty, unfulfilled, and repulsed by the game. After the rush that cheating gave me, I just couldn’t live up to its initial high, no matter how much I tried to afterwards. Progressing farther and farther into the game became dull, lifeless; I wasn’t fulfilled by it and I never will be even if I reset and tried again. Sometimes in life you take shortcuts for the instant rush of success, and even if you get to your goal faster, you’ll be at a loss for where your devotion went. Where was your desire for more? Your relentless drive to succeed? It’s dulled by cheating, as any desire is after it’s easily achieved. I understood Light Yagami more after cookie clicker, for he was a man seeking justice, a cure for his boredom, but the power and speed of completion that he could achieve through the death note became boring after all challenges (L) died off. Light was bored after L’s death, even his successors couldn’t hold a light to the obstacle that L served in Light’s mission. Light’s story was undoubtedly one of too few challenges against someone who needs constant pushback to succeed. Both Light’s and my boredom were stated until we lost what made our goals worth achieving. Anything in life will become less when it means less to gain. Our stories were both ones of tragedy based on human greed for more, whether it be success, justice, or cookies. In the end, we must face hardship and challenge lest we face what we’ve done to ourselves in the process of meaningless success. Anyways, how’s L’s phat, juicy ass treating you? 

i was willing to sympathize with you until the last sentence

[grinfodoro-reblogs-corral]

Wait I have to ask what happened to dig? I have it wishlisted and heard its got another free dlc in the works as well so I was looking forward to it (reported issues with softlocks/need for more varied items aside)

Don't get me wrong, I've spent over 90 hours playing this game and I still roll around in for a couple runs/trying to complete the DLC. My main problem is with how the game itself is structured.

I do like a challenging game, I like going in a game and being an absolute noob and then learn as time goes on in hopes of getting some rewads, and getting said rewards; whether is some extra content, upgrades, a secret ending or heck just progression in the story (if the game does have it). And Dig gives you that! You can get multiple endings and a heck ton of collectibles (some of them being upgrades, some just lore stuff)

The problem I have with this is, however, with how all of those rewards are not much great thing compared to the effort you must put to gain them. The levels are generated in a way that game selects a bunch of levels segments (of various difficult) and puts together a level, however unless you play on PC and have the last updates on, you have no way to know what segments you're gonna get and you can get very dang unlucky on just level one. By making the level going down, you don't always see where you jump off, there are issues with the spawning and dodging of enemies (they can just gang up on you leaving you little to no possibility to avoid them), the difficulty spike is absurd. In order to get the true ending, you must satisfy very specific requirements that are so hard to pull if the elements they are based on are just RNG. The whole game is based on RNG. Normally you would get a couple few static points for upgrading yourself in a roguelike, Dig doesn't do that. There were times I reached the final boss with basically no upgrade because of how unlucky I got.

Not to mention some of the achievements are based as well on requirements that are RNG-based. For example there is the "Dirty Poor" feat, but in Dig gems are literally everywhere the levels are designed so that you *will* get gems. You must be incredibly lucky to get those 3 gemless segments in the first world to get the feat, making it one of the most difficult feats to achieve not because of difficulty but due to being based on luck. And so many other feats are like that. I could give out more examples but I don't want to spoil much of neither the vanilla game or the DLC, but basically the whole game feels more like playing with a gambling machine rather than a roguelike.

Many players have reported such issues, alongside the bugs and glitches, but the difficulty was never adjusted. The possibility to select your own level segments is exclusive to Steam. No improvement was made regarding the entire game being so luck-based, and instead the DLC just adds more restrictions and further rises the already high difficulty spike to an insane degree that made many casual players drop Dig completely, and I know of less than five people who were able to 100% the game and DLC with cheat options on (extra life, powered up attack, etc. Etc.). Also enabling said cheat options make impossible to get feats.

The game ends up feeling like a chore to go through at times, as the player must rely more on luck than actual skill and adaptability. And so far, no change was made despite the multiple complains of fans; hopefully with the upcoming DLC they will fix such issues, but who to say. The last update ended up adding more issues than solutions, make more players drop, and add even more elements to the RNG blender.

Does the story pay off? Perhaps, but it does not make up for the hours and attempts it takes to actually finish the story. Nor do much the rest of aestethic rewards, nor the upgrades since you may just never get them in your run.

I feel like I was too harsh on Dig, and perhaps I am. I was really waiting for this game and was excited to see the characters and new levels but that wish just quickly wore off when I could not even get past half the game because I could not find, due to bad luck, the upgrades I needed to continue further in a non-hardcore way.

I would suggest playing Dig only to players who are down to spend a ton of time to progress and don't mind the amount of luck required, and just want to try experience the lore bits and visuals on their own rather than from a video. But I wouldn't feel in good faith suggesting this game without underlining the somewhat brutal difficulty and the fact it ends up relying more in luck and the player's patience rather than their skills. If you play it expecting a rogue-like, then it's not- exactly one lol. Think of it more like a arcade game.

That's about what I have to say about Shovel Knight Dig. I still do play it because I don't take too seriously unfair deaths and such, but I wish this game was more accessible to players of all kinds as some friends don't have as much time or energy to spend playing such a luck-based game. I think the game has the potential for being a genuine enjoyable experience for everyone and not just hardcore/completionists/similar kind of players but yeah, we got what we got, and devs both from Nitrome and YCG don't seem to care too much. Which is understandable considering all the projects they are making, but still somewhat sad.

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 5/23/2023

six sentences or less bc that's the kind of week it is

listening

straighten up and fly right from the nat king cole songbook, covered by sammy davis junior. i have a lot of fondness for the nat king cole songbook bc my grandmother had a lot of fondness for it, and this one was very comfortably in our (contralto) ranges. really burrowing into the comforting familiar as we enter the Cross Country Move Hellzone (tm). spotify

-

reading

lot of documentation for work bc i am trying to build a google sheet + calendar for our grants and reports such that when someone adds OR EDITS a row in the grant/report tracker it creates a new google calendar event OR UPDATES existing events. i may have to give up on that second half.

in non-work stuff, it is hysterical how many hackers brian krebs (infosec reporter/journalist/researcher) is able to interview. like when this guy was asked "yo is this your code targeting a specific mastodon server with a crypto scam" the response was

Clicking the “open chat in Telegram” button on Zipper’s Lolzteam profile page launched a Telegram instant message chat window where the user Quotpw responded almost immediately. Asked if they were aware their domain was being used to manage a spam botnet that was pelting Mastodon instances with crypto scam spam, Quotpw confirmed the spam was powered by their software.

“It was made for a limited circle of people,” Quotpw said, noting that they recently released the bot software as open source on GitHub.

we live in the stupidest possible cyberpunk future.

-

watching

i don't know jack about shit about cars and i don't know what the fuck jennings motorsports on youtube is talking about 80% of the time but a friendly guy with a calm voice talking through how he's going to get some cars in the worst shape you've ever seen up and running again? yes good thanks, i've blown through his entire backlog in the last week in my second monitor while i've cleaned data. this man is essentially rebuilding this rare limited edition shiny holographic car from half a frame and a panel LOOK how fucked this thing is.

love the Will It Run? videos bc the answer is almost always yes AND SOMETIMES HE EVEN DRIVES THEM DOWN HIS DRIVEWAY AND BACK even if the cars are barely holding themselves together. the horse souls in these machines can be coaxed back into resurrection with the proper burnt offerings and application of liquefied dinosaur

-

playing

the charm of Powerwash Simulator is somewhat dampened by its extremely buggy achievements bc i KNOW i could get all 40 so fuckin easy if they just WORKED. i didn't get the "main campaign completed!" achievement despite spending nearly forty hours 100%ing every job, so i think the rarity of the achievements is somewhat inaccurate, bc it's more like, did you happen to play through that level at a time when the achievement was working? despite all that, it has been incredibly effective at damping generalized moving anxiety and it's a tremendous catch-up-on-podcasts game. it's hysterical to me this was published by square enix bc this style of simulator game is usually published by Playway or a Playway company, a shadowy network of about a hundred small polish studios, many of which went public and had IPOs in order to hand over a controlling interest of the company to Playway. long history of annoying business practices such as remaking more popular games with the serial numbers filed off and making demos to gauge interest and THEN only making about one full game for every twenty demos, which is very irritating for players. not this one tho, it's in fucking brighton in the uk, no relation!

-

making

this is going to be cleaning and move prep for the next six weeks. i deep cleaned (even mopped!) my kitchen and bathroom last weekend bc it uh. really needed it, and that's the most exciting thing i did. no progress on cleaning the flip clock radio bc i do not currently have the patience to sit down with qtips and get in all the little grooves.

[pumpkin-spike18]

✨Weekly Progress 2024 #22-23✨

#22 would've come out last week if I didn't forget my planner when I packed for traveling.

Weekly Progress #22

Updated tumblr tags

Thumbnailed, sketched, refined sketched, lined, and finished [fan project #2] illustration

Submitted forms for [fan projects]

Made work plans for P-M and SFB

Basic o2a2 outline

Fixed SYVNH bug

Generated sprite pieces for P-M and SFB

Fleshed out o2a2 outline

Weekly Progress #23

Coded P-M sprites

Updated itch page images

Made new BWBOK schedule

Copied P-M script into Renpy

Scripted P-M s1-s3

Answered BWBOK comments

Drafted [fan project] posts

Designed P-M GUI

Wrote 100+ words for SFB

A Sky of Falling Birds

As I mentioned before, SFB is my next big project, which I plan to submit for BAF VN Jam. That's... 7/1.

It's okay, I still got... 20 days.

There's a lot of work left to do and not much to show off at the moment.

Pre-Make

Or Pre 🕰 Make (P-M), I haven't completely decided on how to advertise the title yet. It's a "small" project that I came up with back in 2020 and still haven't finished. I thought I'd dedicate a few days' time to it and see how far I'd get. There's still a bit of work to do, but much of it is done.

The art's quite old and the story telling was the original test I did for SYVNH's looping mechanism so it won't be anything novel. The screenshot above is from this game. If he looks a little familiar, don't worry. That's not your imagination.

The Beauty Which Only Beast Knows

My other big focus for this month, we're hoping to finish it for Otome Jam... which also ends 7/1. I've a loose schedule for achieving that, but the team's health is the top priority so we're playing it by ear. It may take a little longer to finish up.

Other!

O2A2: Because I couldn't sit still!! I started planning for O2A2 2024! It'll be another entry into the kill series, but I hope to include some point and click elements to it. Last year I finished 9 VN projects, something I don't want to do again-- but!! I don't want to only finish one project this year!! I've been skipping and fomo-ing all the jams in the first half of the year. Well, no more! I'm going to get some work done this summer!!

Fan Projects: I don't think I need to keep my involvement in fan projects a secret anymore! I took part in the D. Gray Man 20th Anniversary Project, which we actually started work on late last year! I also took part in the Narumitsu Big Bang 2024 event, which... also started work late last year 🤔 Huh, I was really busy back then. Maybe that'll teach me to sign up for too many fan events... (😂 no ofc not!)

Misc: I finished some tedious updating work that I promised myself to do a while back. I'll admit I make my blog easiest for me to navigate, first and foremost. But if there's something that's bothering you, or have an idea to make navigation better, feel free to let me know through an ask! I also updated all of my itch io pages' images. They were originally linked from discord, which changed its policy and broke all direct image links. Thankfully, I had everything labeled in a private server so I could easily retrieve and reupload to update the pages. Yes, I should've done that long ago. And I'm sorry I just... didn't;;

[xxxnecrotica]

so excited for summer vacay bc i want to spend as much time as possible collecting achievements in my fav games >:3 i dream of being a completionist but unfortunately if i want to complete everything in all my games i have like... probably a thousand achievements to do

under the cut i talk about my progress in different games

in slay the princess i have 13/97 achievements collected with 4.4 hrs total (97 achievements is fucking CRAZY for me thats the most achievements ive seen in a game that i own)

in holocure i have 31/82 achievements (im scared of trying to get them... i suck at this game sometimes..........)

stardew valley - 27/49

va-11 hall-a - 10/34 (should be manageable)

papers please - 3/13 (should be manageable as well... i think?)

omori - 44/84 (halfway there! and oh wow the last time i played it was january?? anyway my progress in the game is kind of stalled bc im focusing on only getting one achievement rn, which is killing 100 squizzards. it takes a lot of time but at least i progressively get stronger and richer.)

yttd - 9/14 (yooo my bday in MM/DD form!! ... i should play the steam yttd version more. look okay i lived and breathed yttd for 2 years straight and im burnt out now.)

nitw - 13/31 (my progress has been stalled bc im trying to beat demontower. but im genuinely struggling with it and its ruining my fun so i might just... give up on demontower for now. but also at the same time im stubborn and i dont want to)

ace attorney trilogy - 3/30 (heavens i should play AA more)

NEVERMIND I JUST SAW HUMAN FALL FLAT HAS 123 ACHIEVEMENTS. THATS THE MOST ACHIEVEMENTS NOW IN A GAME THAT I HAVE. i dont play it a lot tho so i wont record my progress in it

nso - 18/33 (should be manageable!)

ddlc plus - 6/19 (manageable)

the rest are games i havent played much recently but i see myself definitely returning to collect the rest of the achievements that i havent gotten

unpacking - 21/25 (COME ON MOON YOU NEED TO FUCKING GET TO THIS.)

pikuniku - 5/14 (i havent played pikuniku in a year but this is a manageable one so i'll return to it)

stanley parable - 4/11 (wow thats less achievements than i thought?)

faith - 13/32

mazm jekyll and hyde - 9/25

sludge life - 0/14 (ik i played this already how come i dont have any achievements??)

okay thats all! as a bonus heres my top 5 most played games

dear god has it really been that long since i last played some of these games??

[pizzacatdelight]

My Birthday

Yay, today’s my birthday! I turned 28 years old! And avoided the dreaded “27 Club” where some of the biggest musicians from the 60s’ and 70s’ died when they were 27 years old! (They mainly died due to massive drinking, doing drugs, etc.…)

My 27th year on this planet was not a good one. Early this year, I quit my toxic part-time job at a well-known pizza restaurant that I won’t name. I got scammed into paying for my own equipment for a new job I thought it was a job, but wasn’t. So, I lost over $2,000 because of it and I have to freeze my credit scores to keep the scammers from opening any new credit cards under my name! Then there’s the fact I can’t even find a job that would even hire me due to both my disability and my limited skill list! I even got rejected from getting Disability (or SSI); two months later because of the fact I even had a job!

At home, my youngest niece graduated from high school in June and instead of going to University, she’s working a full-time job at Sally’s Beauty in order to save up money to buy her own car since the car her mom gave her last year and it‘s too expensive to go University right now. My only nephew started 11th grade last month, which means once he graduates in 2025, mom’s planning to sell the family house. She told me and my older sister this back in March/April where after she sold the house; she’s planning to (probably) move to Oregon to get away from the politics of conservative Texas and to retire. Of course, we’re going to move with her as she’s planning to buy land and build a condo house where my sister and I can live on one side of the condo.

For my hobbies, on the other hand, they’re doing great! I beat over 15 games this year, which include “Pokémon: Emerald”, “Hypnospace Outlaw”, “Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Cindered Shadows DLC” and “The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog”. “BAD END THEATER” became the first Steam game where I 100% all the achievement. I preordered “Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” a few days before it came out in May and played it on release day. I remembered staying up all night going around Hyrule, completing the Shrines and not being dicks to the Koroks who only wanted to be reunited with their friends. I’m looking forward to the release of the remaster of “Super Mario RPG”, which comes out in less than two months! I saw four LPs of the game in the past and played it myself for the WiiU. I can’t wait for it to come!

My webcomic is going along. I just finished Chapter 9 and I’m currently taking a small break from it to focus on making this site. I changed how I publish my comics, where I used to release 6-7 pages at a time. But now, I have changed it to 2 pages per week, which means I’ll get more views compared to what I did before. I’m planning to post the links to my webcomic here; I’ll have to find the motivation to do so.

I also made a Tumblr account in June after Reddit decided that they're going to start pricing the 3rd party apps that use its’ code (Apollo, you will be missed). While things are great on Tumblr, I have to get used that most of everyone there is very left-leaning compared to Reddit, where everyone is either in the center or right-leaning, depending on the subject. Yes, I know there are left-leaning people and subreddits there, but it’s the right-leaning groups that are the ones who make the headlines. At least the fandom on Tumblr is way nicer compared to Reddit, where you get attacked for saying or doing something that the fandom subreddit doesn’t like. It’s the reason why I was too scared to either post or comment on Reddit.

Then early this month, I made a NeoCities website and learned how to code again after 11 years. It’s not easy and sometimes it’s even frustrating when you want to do something cool to your page and the code won’t work! At least coding is a skill I can use when I try to look up jobs since it’s one of the most important skills that businesses need. And I also started to blog to write about my thoughts as well. I’ve been doing it on Tumblr for a while, so now I have two sites to pour it all out.

As for what I will be doing for my birthday, it’s not going to be much as I tend not to ask for a lot. I know mom normally gives me a $50 Amazon gift card so I can buy something nice for myself. And I already have plans to make brownies for desserts since we have so much flour and a huge box of brownie mix is in the cabinet.

So yeah, my 27th birthday wasn’t that great, but it could’ve been worse. I hope my 28th year will be a little better and things will improve.

[rakishhellion]

i just got all the achievements on neo twewy after weeks and heres some stuff i learned (no spoilers btw)

lets see

the one for being a frequent customer you get when that repeat option shows up on their menu

at tokyu hands you can trade 2 gem pins for another one, the pairs are rare metal and tektite, adamantite and orichalcum, and shadow and dark matter scarletite is an ultimate drop only

if you want to grind stats:

style - 300 cap (you only need 222) - air in a can (vegelovers - tower records)

attack - 500 cap - that spicy black ramen i forgot the name (suzu slurps - dogenzaka)

hp and defense - 999 and 500 cap respectively - tuna head (sby bbq - tipsy tose hall)

scramble slam sucks but heres how you get the rewards:

put the game on ultimate and reduce your level, you get more points this way

the way you get points is by doing beatdrop combos which means you need a lot of enemies that last

also theres a multiplier that goes up by 0,4x everytime you do a combo in battle up to a max 5x, save the enemy with the 3x until you max the multiplier

make the biggest chain you can with JUST ONE slam noise, thats enough to make the whole chain track points, also you can do chain battles with rival players too just let the noise get you then walk up to the player, once youre done, leave the area then come back so the noise respawn

anyways, equip the basic shockwave and force rounds pins so you slowly kill enemies, equip the rest of your party members with pins you want to grind just make sure they dont have x or y inputs

start attacking with shockwave, once the beatdrop circle shows up switch to force rounds only when its past half (delaying a pin gives it a bit of time to regen, enough to give you one extra full use), repeat the process with force rounds, you can make the most of the pins this way, its like, 5 uses of shock and 4 of rounds, a lot of combos

youre gonna make a fuckton of points this BUT chains are gonna be LONG AS FUCK, 40 minutes up to an hour, be warned

second slam is going to be a massive pain in the ass it took me 8 chains to do it (would be less if i remembered to reduce level)

theres a limited amount of the ion trade pins, theres a few you can miss, look it on gamefaqs i dont remember them, youre gonna need all of them for all the pins and threads

you cant get all the fp you need to complete the network by just doing quests and gold dives on regular days, youre gonna need some extra 15 points you get from a LONG dive in another day, its 10 rounds long and kinda hard, the last round is the worst, its two angry bears and a t rex noise (also angry) save a killer remix for this round, the t rex deals a fuckton of damage and if it eats one party member you wont survive the roar that comes next, watch out

hog healer and affinity weaknesses are your best friends for tough fights remember this

for the love of god grind pp on easy on another day, difficulty doesnt change the pp you get (i think the same applies to xp)

the noisepedia completion gives you a graffiti when you hit 80% but youre gonna need 100% for it to count on the save file complete percentage

ive seen ultimate shibuya hikarie w3d5 and ultimate cat street another day be recommended for money grinding but for the most part i disagree (bc i died often, you need high drop rates for these methods)

the way i do it is ultimate o-east w1d5, the chains last less than a minute and only give like 180 to 200 thousand yen, a lot less than the other methods but the short chains make up for it, this method is also good for grinding food (you do need to take the longest route for the tuna heads which can be infuriating considering the load times)

most secret reports are unlocked by defearting boss noise, 3 of them unlock by network completion, the last one only when you get all others, also boss noise respawn if you come back to the area so you dont have to redo the day like in og twewy

its safer to increase drop rate by threads than decreasing level remember that for annoying fights dont worry most abilities arent that good anyway (I NEVER GOT THAT ONE THAT SAVES YOU FROM A FATAL ATTACK TO WORK FUCK THIS GAME)

plague noise only show up on story fights so you cant chain them, go in with high drop rates, you fight almost all of them in quick succession in the day you have to go after that guy, w3d6 i think?

the last boss is the only boss noise you cant chain also for some reason you can soundsurf when it starts throwing balls at you, use that to get groove

for the superboss on another day i recommend using hog healer (to heal), fang defender (to protect yourself from its HIGHLY damaging dash attack wich you can also dodge, but i found it harder and using this pin fully heals you if you get it right), and a lot of pins you can use at once in an all out attack, if one party member gets attacked the other ones will keep going, i recommend using darkness pins since they can stun and pins with easy beatdrop conditions, use killer remixes only when the armor is up, most of the fight is dodging

just do the time trial on easy no one cares anyway

for the remind graffiti theres like one or two you can miss, again, look it up on gamefaqs bc i forgor💀

you dont need to get 100% drop for the worst fights, thats what killer remix is for, 75% is fine, its worse to make a long ass chain than it is to just do another fight

i need to explain how the killer remix drop rates work so heres how:

YOU DONT GET 0,5x PER PARTY MEMBER

thats why youre probably wondering why it isnt always 3x

the way it works is that you get a 0,5 per pin that has that little ready above it (thats what its for, i always wondered that) to get that ready you need to use that pin in a beatdrop combo either as the one that starts or the one that ends it

synergy abilities apply for the whole party strangely enough

theres a thread that gives you more time with pig noise, anyway brute forcing with killer remixes usually work no matter what

shiba is a toxic bottom

anyway thats all

as for what i think abt the game now that im DONE with it, love it honestly, and despite the fact it didnt meet sales expectations i think, im still hopeful for it, twewy survived bc it was so beloved by the devs i guess so theres that, also imagine if next games were on other cities famous for their urban culture that would be so fashion like

[gamebunny-advance]

Pikmin 4 Post-Game Tip

This has light spoilers for Pikmin 4's post game, but I'll still refrain from making major story spoilers. I just think this would be useful to know, so you don't "waste" your time like I did.

(Not a moment is ever really wasted in such a great game, but depending on your play style, this could be useful.)

Try to complete Olimar's tale before the end game. You don't have to do it first, but do not do it last. The reward(s) for it are only going to be useful to you if you still have more game to play. Even then, depending on how much you decided to grind for your pikmin, it may still not be 100% worth it, because completing his tale also doesn't immediately give the rewards: it unlocks the challenges to get the rewards.

If you struggled to complete Olimar's tale or the 5-fire Dandori challenges, then you are surely going to struggle with the new challenges, especially the final one for the final reward.

Depending on your skill level, just grinding these out might take a substantial amount of time that you could use preparing for end game in other ways. Besides that, if you're able to complete them, then you've probably already achieved a kind of mastery that negates the need for the rewards. BUT, if you do complete it, you have the potential to completely break the remainder of the game, Pikmin 2 style.

So, here's my tips for the final challenge without majorly spoiling its contents:

Make sure you bought ALL of Russ's gadgets and have his final reward. That's gonna be useful for all Dandori challenges, but especially this one. Use it when you can.

Maximizing your pikmin count is not your priority.

Knock down the jewel first. It'll take too long for Oatchi to come back around for it later.

You only need to kill 4 enemies, and the first one you see is not one of them. You're just gonna have to deal with that.

Bomb the crystal wall.

Beware of falling hazards in the final stretch.

[vibrathor]

i finished datv

its a decent game, just not a decent dragon age.

This was the first game in the series where I felt nothing upon reaching finale, no excitement, no sadness, no epicness, just wanted to get it over with. I still started a new character, mostly to see if I can get more lore tidbits on this particular combo of race/faction (and to unlock the last achievement Im missing from 100%). Its just... shallow. Good for "relax, consume and dont ask", but if you want just a tad bit more, youre in for a bad surprise. Not to mention the constant hand holding, jesus christ, trust your player to have a brain, Bioware.

More under the cut, spoilery

it will be chaotic, but hey ho...

Honestly, I played it for the lore. I knew certain aspects that got confirmed, i was baffled by others, especially contradictory to the previous games... which still would be okay if only it didnt just started snowballing into one big mess.

Old gods lore? Gone. Seems like quickly attached to the elves, which would have been great if it was done better. Much better.

It was elves all along? Spirits into bodies? Expected. Shame they decided to just cut through it with a blaster and infodump en masse on the player, it really took me out.

Blight? See, thats interesting, but we also first learned that red lyrium is blighted lyrium. To have titans infected blood could be interesting, except also red lyrium means angry. What.

Statues of the dread wolf in every single elven place? Yeah why. There was a big point of having his statues in mythals temple in dai, big enough to get its own dialogue, but nope, lets just reuse assets, enviromental storytelling? what is that

Isabela only shared the name with Isabela I knew. Same with Dorian. Morrigan had a few good lines, but it wasnt my Morrigan.

I also like how we dont care about the previous choices and characters, except the ones we need and are as bland as possible, and all have selective amnesia. Either leave the south and the past completely, or import more choices, this is just jarring.

I expected a soft reboot, which we get with letters telling us about the South getting wrecked, and im sort of at peace with that? It stings, but still. The ILLUMINATI reveal at the end tho? I hope they pivot from the implication that ALL of the previous villains/heroes/events were influenced by THE ILLUMINATI, not just observed, DIRECTLY INFLUENCED, cause thats not just shitting on lore, thats shitting on some amazing characters and their agency (LOGHAIN OF ALL), and amazing stories, for the sake of what...? Clearing cut from the past team? I was never a big fan of Trick W, but this is just... ugh. Unless it is a VERY GOOD WRITING, that im not expecting from this team.

Writing is very bland, and mostly bad, way too anachronistic, tonally not even at all, characters are just meh, and the fact you HAVE to be nice to all of them doesnt help. I cant dismiss them, i cant fight with them, i cannot NOT recruit them, the most i can do is not do quests (but loot. and codex entries. and stuff), which is such a regressive decision. POWER OF FRIENDSHIP LESSSGOOO

I think I truly liked only Emmerich and Davrin, even Harding was a shadow of herself. I knew Taash was written by Weekes instantly, same bratiness, same annoyance about them as Sera... whom i actively dont like, but i cared about anyway, and I was prepared and did it for Taash, but certain in your face, including breaking the forth wall, preachy scene made me fucking cringe. Like i literally had to pause cause it was so bad. Taash is kinda too childish as well, not straight to the point like some people claim, just fucking daft. Neve is flat, Bellara is a worse Merrill, Lucanis had a promise, but its like hes written by 2 different people at all times, even Solas contradicts the one I knew before.

Also its so... weird that like Harding gets stuff from her Ma and wants to go camping, but at the same time we know South is barely holding. Antaam is so good theyre every fucking where.

Wardens are great, Id die for Evka. Assan is my boy. Manfred is the greatest wisp that ever was.

What was the most disappointing though, was the zones. What do you mean i FINALLY go to tevinter and see only fucking dock town? Where are my villas? Where are the bad magisters? Wheres the rampant injustice (except in the passing or the codex)? In Treviso, where are the scary Crows, not this anti-hero italian nice mafia? Kal Sharok is just different, but everyones nice and looks normal, but theyre different, lets not get into it though.

Where are dozens of elves following Solas? Whats up with that 6th sense twist that was SO BAD?

Theres probably more stuff that I already forgot about.

I know this games development was hell, the whole process got restarted like 3 times, but the way they sanitised almost everything (shoutout to the Blight cause it has some good moments), and the writing that is even more chaotic than this post, make me feel so... bitter? Disappointed? Disillusioned?

Certainly nothing positive.

[libraryofcirclaria]

24 May 1254

Library of Circlaria

Third Level Society: First Version

Story Four: Meon Bell

Today is the last day of the month of May in the Common Circlarian Calendar. I just completed a rather simple quest with my avatar, Captain Bornan, involving The Slayvon, ten fellow Members, and each of us casting 100 daemons; so over 500 in all. We captured a rogue sea ship and took a share of the spoils after negotiating a peace treaty with the enemy. It was simple and took no time at all.

All the while, I marvel at the Third Level Society and what it has accomplished thus far since its foundation over ten years ago. Many who are Members now once in the past looked to various TableQuest sessions for fellowship as well as the dynamic array of possible opportunities to gain treasure. The playing of the old game of TableQuest presented a thrill that many simply could not find elsewhere. But TableQuest also meant encountering avatars whose identities of those real people who cast them were hidden, meaning you never really knew who you were dealing with. In other words, you very well may have tangled yourself with someone having bad intent. Darkfire dealers and other outlaws, after all, hid themselves within the darkened ranks of TableQuest players, intent on gaining wealth and credit at whatever cost.

And real wealth was placed on the table in these sessions, with such wealth being wagered upon the outcome of a given quest or agenda. Sometimes the resulting politics turned ugly, manifesting in murders, theft, rape, and other forms of evil. To enter a TableQuest session for the thrill meant risking the treachery involved.

The Third Level Society put an end to that danger by presenting a formidible alternative. With rules in place mandating a registry of avatar identity to Member identity, and policy to forbid the wager of true items of wealth, questing here presented the satisfaction without the corruption that comes with it. And with the Arturian Realm cast as a continuously-running and multi-faceted dymensional plane striving to achieve as close to a resemblence to the real world as possible without sacrificing the dynamics necessary for the satisfaction one gets through questing, the Society has been drawing attention from figures in the field of education and research.

I just hope the Third Level Society can survive Cray Fenton.

Fenton started off his tenure as Dungeonmaster by making a bold call upon the Caucus to repeal the Organizational Prefect Code of Conduct. The Caucus failed to do exactly that, but by the end of January, they did manage to repeal most of the amendments, many of which I felt were unreasonable.

That same month, Fenton unveiled his ambitious and well-planned agenda for the deployment of the Jon Beyon Consoles. January would be the month for the Caucus to formulate the plans for the funds needed to build the large number of Jon Beyon Consoles required to cover every Member by the end of the year, and also for certain Members currently taking part in the pilot experiments. 

February would be the month that we implement the fundraiser agenda. And then between March and October, we would build the Jon Beyon Consoles on a steady schedule.

November and December would be the period of transition for the Caucus in terms of the Consoles used. Jon Beyon would be expected to train the Quest Leaders and Administrators on his model in the first week of November; the Quest Leaders and Administrators train the Veteran Members in the second week; and the Veteran Members train the Freshmen Members in the third week. In the first week of December, the Freshmen Members would be made to retire the old type-out consoles and switch to the Jon Beyon Consoles for good; the second week of the month, the Veteran Members would do the same; and the third month, the Quest Leaders and Administrators would make the switch. By January 1255, every Member would have a Jon Beyon Console.

All throughout January, I was actually in high spirits, anticipating the implementation of this agenda. I witnessed Traya Meris introduce the Jon Beyon's Console model to her class of subservient Members on a particular quest she was leading along the warm Arturian Coastline near Parradin. These Members were nothing short of ecstatic over the newfound power and control they had over their avatars. I, myself, took part in getting the Caucus to vote on fundraising. Although the idea was Fenton's, I was the one to propose this fundraising idea to the Chamber on the evening of January 13. We held several special sessions through the rest of that week; and, on Friday January 15, the Caucus voted passed the fundraiser plan. Fenton quickly approved it; and the plan started at the beginning of February.

By late February, it became apparent that fundraising well-surpassed the amount needed to build Jon Beyon Consoles for the 631 Members that we counted in January.

In early March, though, we factored in the current Membership registry again and realized that number jumped up to 647, which meant that additional fundraising was needed. The other issue was that there was a backlog of orders in the business from which we ordered the metal parts needed to construct the Consoles. So Fenton put an immediate stop to everything in the Jon Beyon Project, including the pilot experiments.

"I understand if we need to delay the Console construction, but wear and tear should not be a concern with the devices we're already using," I told Fenton late one night in a meeting with him in his Dungeonmaster's Office, which I noticed was adorned more heavily with the crow-and-hawk of the Society. "Jon has proven that they are built to last."

"I'm not concerned about wear-and-tear," Fenton replied. "I'm concerned about adding fuel to Sari Frame's sentiment. If this backlog doesn't clear and we continue doing pilot groups, it will be a matter of time before an insider takes this to her and she starts building her own brand."

"The backlog will clear out soon enough," I said. "And I don't see how Sari could carry out a conspiracy like that."

I had spoken my mind when I told him that. It was true that, after Fenton accepted the Dungeonmaster nomination, Sari alleged that there was a certain number of Members who had been discouraged from casting a Caucus vote, on the presumption that they would all vote for Frame. But when no one took to this claim, and it became apparent that most had accepted that Fenton, though having won by a small margin, secured the position fairly after all, Frame had since stood down and remained silent.

Now Alex Cromme had brought up numerous times between me and Fenton that he thought he had heard some of those Members, who were friends with Sari, fantasizing over the notion of stealing the idea of Jon Beyon, who has been in league with us by the way, and developing a transition in a quicker fashion than ours. Of course, this alleged conversation took place at the Slack, where things get noisy and things are said that are never meant in serious fashion. So the matter was speculative.

Nevertheless, Fenton had been taking no chances in this regard, an approach I found a bit irrational, I have to admit. I understand that the Dungeonmaster position, with all its daunting administrative duties, can present an opportunity to withdraw into a state of sick paranoia. But one must exercise caution in that regard so that such anxiety does not manifest into a power-grab, intentional or unintentional. And I believe that by early March, Fenton was showing the first signs of this struggle. 

I will also admit that between January and now, I had largely taken a break from questing due to the combination of the tiring work I had from my administrative duties under Fenton and my own academic studies; after all, I have been pursuing a graduate study of lightfire on behalf of a program based out of the Linbrae Royal College, which agreed to establish me as a resident here at Cabotton University. So I did not keep too closely in touch with Society politics, despite working so closely with Fenton.

And I should have known better.

In the first week of April, Dungeonmaster Fenton summoned both me and Jon Beyon to his Office, where we found the Dungeonmaster joined by Alex Cromme. Indicating that Cromme told him of this, Fenton proceeded to explain that someone, though unknown in terms of identity, was using an unauthorized trigger-mechanism to enhance Jon Beyon's invention in an attempt to overthrow the fair balance that the entire Arturian Realm strives to achieve. The organization in question carrying out this corrupt agenda was known as the Shadow of Myrst.

To my shock and dismay, Fenton informed us that Traya Meris was the primary suspect.

He then gave us an assignment. Jon Beyon, who Meris saw as a close friend, was to convince Meris to share her supposed secret with him without being suspicious of him; Beyon was then to secretly report what she said back to Fenton. Meanwhile, I was to go on a broad but secret survey of as many questing Arturian entities as I could to collect information on the agenda suspected by Fenton.

The Dungeonmaster ended the meeting by saying that the Jon Beyon Project was postponed indefinitely until he could find the Member responsible and expel that Member from the Society.

Again, that was the first week of April, more specifically the evening of April 6, if I remember correctly. It was at this point that I felt that Fenton's paranoia was growing out of control. True, there was an entity known as the Shadow of Myrst, existing as a mysterious force setting out to throw off the political balance of the Realm through a winner-take-all strategy. And it reminded me of the days of the Crimson Lion a few years back. But Fenton had no rational reason to suspect Meris as a player, let alone a leader in an agenda involving trigger-spells.

In fact, this may very well have been Fenton taking an opportunity to retaliate against Meris over an event that happened in late February.

On February 23, we met on forming a micro-detailed plan to spend the funds we accrued for the month for the Jon Beyon Project. Meris had proposed a spending alternative that involved building the Consoles at a slightly slower pace but with higher quality, going against Fenton's idea of building as quickly and cheaply as possible. Fenton had been pushing that as a last-minute change to the agenda up to that point, reasoning that we needed to save funds for repair costs.

Fenton could have taken her argument into consideration, favoring the parts he favored and questioning the parts that he deemed questionable in the hopes that he and Meris would come to a consensus. Instead, he ridiculed her idea as being "a creative way to squander the Society's precious funds in meaningless ways," and going so far as to question why she would study entrepreneurship at Cabotton University if she was going to "make such reckless decisions." For context, entrepreneurship was, in fact, her academic reason for attending Cabotton University in the first place.

I had been shocked with his outburst, but remained silent out of respect for the Dungeonmaster. In contrast, Meris was honest.

"Just because you're the Dungeonmaster doesn't mean you know more about my field of study than I do," she said.

In hindsight, I admire her for taking that brave stand.

Ever since, Fenton would not speak directly with her. And every time she came up in conversation between me and him in her absence, Fenton always emphasized that he questioned her loyalty.

After the more recent meeting in early April, the one aforementioned where Fenton asked Beyon to spy on Meris, I began to reflect on my own standing in the Society and where I stood with Fenton. It was at this point that I first admitted to myself that I felt too uncomfortable to even be around Fenton, let alone work with him. Again, Beyon and Meris had been close friends. And Fenton was exploiting this to get information out of Meris while risking to have Beyon and Meris turn on each other, which I believe was not unintentional at this point.

During the second week of April, Fenton summoned me to his Office again. I had submitted a request back in January for him to appoint me as the Administrator over the Galacia Sector of the Arturian Realm, of which I had good knowledge based on past experience. Since the recent turn of politics having intervened, I had all but forgotten this request; but Fenton reminded me of it when he informed me that he could not appoint me for Caucus approval on this because of how, combined with my role in the survey I was supposed to secretly carry out against Members who might be part of the Myrst conspiracy, that would make Fenton look in his stance against that conspiracy, should my spy attempts be found out.

Fenton also informed me during this meetup that he had begun to lose trust in Jon Beyon, himself, thinking now that Beyon and Meris were joining forces against him.

"They are still close friends after all," Fenton said. "That hasn't changed a bit."

He then asked me to turn my effort away from the secret survey, to which I contributed little by the way, and instead spy on Beyon and Meris.

"I'll see what I can do," I managed to say as an acceptable response to Dungeonmaster Fenton. But at this point, I concluded silently to myself that Fenton had simply gone too far. Later that very evening, I met with Meris and Beyon, where I quite simply told them Fenton's honest sentiment. To my surprise, they both expressed how much they had been anticipating this. They called over Carly McNauten, to whom I explained everything again. Carly responded by complaining about Fenton's "overdrama" over the Ticketer Public Section, especially when it came to Fenton always blaming and harassing Sari Frame over the Myrst issue.

So the four of us spoke at length about all of this. In the end, we came to a point of discord between the notion of breaking away from the Fenton-Frame conflict and just becoming independent Quest Leaders forming some sort of an independent faction within the Society, and the notion of joining Frame to lead a resistance against Fenton. Our talk lasted until well past midnight, at which point we all decided to continue our discussion at a later time, making a mutual promise not to make any mention of our talk to the Society or the public just yet.

We met again a couple nights later and determined to implement both strategies consecutively, with the notion of forming an independent faction from the Progressivist and Traditionalist camps serving as the first plan. As a segue into this, Meris and Beyon would silently disengage from the Society while I stayed with Fenton to handle any drama regarding these two friends. By that point, with the semester's end approaching and the onset of final exams, I would take an indefinite leave, myself.

So Meris and Beyon made their temporary departure from the Society in the final week of April, to which Fenton, surprisingly, gave no notice. However, on May 1, before I implemented my own disengagement plan, I received a private message on the Ticketer from the Bookkeeper that I, along with Beyon and Meris, had been named in a conspiracy to overthrow Fenton, and that Fenton had our Memberships suspended pending trial for permanent expulsion.

Meris and Beyon met with me at my house, where we noticed that Carly was not with us. We had messaged her but received no response. Thus, remembering her intense banter toward Fenton, we began to speculate at the possible notion of Carly having actually feigned support in the name of leveraging important information. It is a theme very much present in the medieval history of Remikra, carried out on behalf of tyrants and brutal warlords in order to consolidate power, but can also be carried out on a much smaller scale, especially in the world of business; any organization, for the matter. 

Such suspicion of Carly was dashed, though, when ten days later, Carly, herself approached me and explained that her partner, Richard Brent, whom she thought she could trust, had turned out to be the suspected insider doing favors for Dungeonmaster Fenton. In the moment she informed me of this, Carly may have seen my look of distrust, and went on to assert that she had not only terminated their mutual romance, but that she had all but excommunicated him from her life, both personal and in terms of Member-to-Member diplomacy.

That encounter was one day after news broke that Meris, Beyon, and I were re-admitted into the Society, our suspensions completely lifted. It had become apparent that the majority of the Caucus was very much against Fenton's accusations; and no Bookkeeper case ever materialized. After news of this came to pass, Richard Brent confirmed what Carly said to me, and declared her as a "fellow conspirator" over the Public Section; for though the Bookkeeper denied Fenton the power to have us expelled, he was still very much under the impression that we were conspiring to drive him out. Fenton responded to this by appointing Brent to the Administrator position over Galacia.

So that is where we stand to this day. Meris, Beyon, and I have been careful to go questing separately, pursuing quests like my avatar, Captain Bornan, capturing that rogue ship as he did tonight. I was careful not to pair with either Meris or Beyon, just in case that rogue ship was powered by a Society Member loyal to Fenton and a quest success subject to the possibility of being used by Fenton to justify his theory of conspiracy.

Our plan of disengagement and faction-building is shelved for now. We are trying to ensure that stability within the Society is not threatened by any frayed paranoia coming from Fenton as a result of sudden action. But we are still talking together when we are not questing separately.

<- 09 November 1253 <- || -> 16 June 1254 ->

[xpiester333x]

So I didn't beat every game I intended to play in 2023 but what did I play?

Not nearly as much as last year but I've had a great year with games so here is the list that I played this year, and my quick reviews.

1. Persona 5 Royal (x3 cause I had to 100% it): I don't think I need to elaborate on this one. This game has me in its CLUTCHES - 10000/10

2. Persona 5 Strikers: Great game, really played like a sequel and felt pretty true to the original game despite being a spin off - 8/10

3. Theatrhythm: I put an embarrassing amount of time into rhythm games this year and put an especially embarrassing amount of time into this game in just a month - 10/10

4. Persona 5 Tactica: I enjoyed this more than I expected to, lots of cute moments and I enjoyed the original characters quite a bit - 7/10

5. Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight : I put an even more embarrassing amount of time playing this game - 9/10

6. Persona 4 Dancing All Night: Of all my rhythm games I played this one the least because I liked the QoL changes to the newer games but I still played it more than I want to disclose - 9/10

7. Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight: By far the best Persona dancing game strictly because the music from all the various P3 iterations (something I wish P5 had gotten) - 10/10

8. Shin Megami Tensei 3 (not finished): Definitely one I need to come back and finish this coming year. I was having a blast playing it, I just happened to get drowned in a million other games

9. Final Fantasy XVI: In any other year, it would have been my GOTY. It was truly one of my favorites this year. I'm dying to replay it and I really need to dive into that DLC - 8.5/10

10. Borderlands: Crazy how well this game has held up over the years. The last time I played a Borderlands game (2) I didn't have the best time but I've had so much fun with this one that it's redeemed the franchise - 10/10

11. Persona Q (not finished): I got 15h into this and loved every second of it and then it exploded in my 3DS, dead forever, and I'm sad - 9/10

12. Persona Q2: Like SMT3, I need to finish this because I REALLY loved this game, but it just fell to the wayside because of other games - 10/10 so far

13. Breath of the Wild: I bought this game on a socially awkward whim (funny story) and it was pretty fun but tbh it wasn't as fantastic as people made it sound - 7/10

14. Baldur's Gate 3 (not finished but God will I ever be? I'm 60 hours into it and still in act 1): absolutely deserved GOTY. A fantastic game, incredibly in depth, given constant love and updates from its devs, a quality voice cast, just absolutely a blast so far - 10/10 so far

15. Solasta: A less good example of a DnD styled game. Playing it with a group of friends currently and its not horrible but it doesn't look good when you log off BG3 and on to this - 6/10

16. Catherine (not finished): Absolutely going to finish this either this month or early 2024. I'm about half way through and what an experience. Can't even explain it - 9/10 (loses a point for making me feel dumb)

17. Persona 3 Portable: Great game, FemC, but also it's age def shows and that Tartarus grind is not so fun in the year 2023 - 8/10

18. I'm On Observation Duty 6: My life is more complete for having this game come this year. I love the Observation Duty games (but this one is HARD) - 9/10

19. Sea of Stars (not finished): I will be finishing this one in the near future. It absolutely deserved Indie GOTY, it's very good - 8/10

20. Cult of the Lamb: I played this off and on between other games. It's a fun simple little game that tickles that cute/horror itch - 8/10

21. Gris (mostly finished): I have like one level left. This game is visually stunning, the soundtrack is very peaceful - 8/10

22. Persona 4 Golden (replay): I wanted to 100% it and failed lmao (missed ONE achievement). But that's okay, it's always worth the replay - whatever I rated it last year

23. Core Keeper: Honestly a true alternative to Terraria. Played it with my friends, enjoyed digging a hole and dying to bugs - 8/10

24. Harvestella: I honestly still gush about this game daily. It was so enjoyable and I could gush more but read one of my past gushes - 8.5/10

25. Monument Valley: Super unique and fun perspective puzzle that was very worth the $.99 I paid for it on sale - 8/10

26. Monument Valley 2: See above, but sequel - 8/10

27. Inscryption: There is truly no game like Incryption. I hate to make the pretentious statement "it's more than a game, it's an experience" but it's kind of true. It's an experience, with cool game play - 9/10

28. Penko Park: This game spoke to me with it's aesthetics and it's monsters and its collecting - 7/10

[multimediamac]

Stardew valley

100%ed stardew valley today!

Stardew valley has been my latest gaming hyper fixation, while struggling to do much else i set my eyes on reaching perfection within the game, i played on PC via steam with no mods and no glitches, on a whim i decided to play the game after seeing many Youtube shorts on trips n tricks for the game, various things like how to get x or y, I've owned the game for years but as i sated only booted it up a week ago, i think the game does a excellent job drawing you in as it slowly reveals more and more mechanics to you, such as fishing, mining, community Center and many more and as each season goes by in my first, id say 2 years in game, i was having a blast, the game is really fun in the early game when your exploring it, on your way to complete the community centre and scarily await grandpa, however its at the end of the as i would call it early game into the mid game where some problems with the game arise, one i want to focus on is the day cycle.

See, Stardew has a day night cycle, except not really

See the day only lasts from 6am, the time you wake up in game, to 2 am, the time you pass out in game, passing out in the early game is punishing as it takes 10% of your gold... up to 1,000G(the games currency, gold) and in the early game it feels bad, you don't want to loose money as its harder to get, however in this mid game, i define the mid game as after completing the community centre, its more an annoyance then a punishment as the max 1,000G is effectively pocket change, what's much more annoying is the time limit it sets in the game, if i said each in game day is 6am to 2pm, 20 hours, how much do you think that would be in real time, 20 mins? maybe, so, 1 real minuet per in game second, annoyingly its 14 minuets and 20 seconds, it may seem small but i have a big problem with how thats calculated, time only ticks up by 10 mins in game, equivalent to about 7.17 seconds, making it annoying to calculate how long you have left, something something human psychology and how we think in the number 5 and 10, so it seems small but it greatly derailed my enjoyment of the game due to tasks taking weird time, its harder to attentively think how long you have left in a day due to it being this weird number 7.17 seconds, as i said in the early game and late game this doesn't really matter as in the early game you'll be unaware of most things and more worried about loosing money, so the day will rarely even matter as energy is also a factor, in the late game 90% of days will be spent sleeping and that ties into the second big problem with the day night cycle.

It doesn't matter at all, it wants this weird mid ground between Minecraft/Terraria and Don't starve, in the former, night matters but can easily be circumvented in the latter night is always a threat and can never be circumvented, Stardew valley is in a weird mid ground where it wants the night to always matter, but the day night cycle can be circumvented at no cost, id argue at a negative cost, it actively rewards you for just sleeping a bunch through 90% of days especially with some of the last goals of perfection, namely 100% friendship, the golden clock and the museum, to go into each in detail i shalt, but i will sum up the problems, getting 100% friendship with everyone can easily be achieved by giving them a loved gift on their birthday, no interaction is needed otherwise, the game has a built in friendship deterioration meter that won't matter because it doesn't take into effect in time for you to sleep till the next year and oh its their birthday again, another gift another going to sleep for a year till i see them and their friendship is maxed, the golden clock is in a similar camp requiring...

TEN MILLION DOLLARS (Dr evil finger)

The problem is 10 million is not a fun number to grind to, and i know i know its a farming sim its meant to be casually gotten as you play the game, the problem is i cannot imagine getting it casually without sleeping through the week until its harvest season harvest the crops put em in a keg sleep another week rinse and repeat till you grind enough for 10 mill, its a un-fun slog and further grinds in my point that the day night cycle only matters in the mid game as in the late game it will be ignored in favour of sleeping, the only time it mattered at all was in my third problem, the museum and grinding geodes in the caves till i passed out attempting to get the last 5 artifacts needed to complete the place, its very fun when your getting lots and its like oh what will i add next to it ooh cracking geodes and mining worms is very fun, but when you get down to needing only a few it becomes less oh ive got to hunt down these last few and more, oh i have to grind to get a 3% chance at best of getting it, it was the last thing i did to achieve perfection in game and was by far the least fun i had with the game, the last 20% ish percent of perfection is a horrible slog through the worse mechanics in the game, you might say oh well its 100% its only meant for dedicated people as a end goal, i would say that its a grind either way and not fun if you have fun with the game for 500 hours and eventually get the golden clock sure, great passive fun, but most games i 100% don't have a slog at the end and are more a finally of doing the hardest tasks not the ones that take the longest with no actual challenge, the days are also far too short but some say oh that's the point you cant do everything in a day, for me it was just frustration but i guess that parts more taste.

Over my week id say i had great fun beating Stardew valley!, meeting all the characters learning all the mechanics slowly getting everything done for the community centre which forces you to engage in all of the game, a neat design i really liked each room a different skill tree!

Over my week id say i had a monotonous time 100% perfecting Stardew valley... sleeping 5 years to gift people rabbit feet and harvest ancient fruit wine and crack artifact troves...

[shahronak47]

If I were to create a political party...

For the last 10 years, I have been very interested in politics. I hear a lot of podcasts and debates on them and try to have my own opinion. Although, I am not brave enough to share all of them on social media. I am mostly interested in Indian politics and I just wanted to share if I had a political party what kind of party it would be. I used to write such imaginative essays when I was in school. After so many years, I am going to do it again.

First and foremost, I would come up with the values of the party. They are going to be honesty, transparency, accountability, and humbleness. Personally, all of these values are really very important to me. Let me explain them one by one with examples.

Honesty - This value stems from the fact that I hardly see any political leader publically accepting anything wrong that they have done or appreciating the good in another political party. Most of them believe in complete black and white. I think everyone would agree when I say that it is impossible for any human to make 100% correct decisions all the time. Similarly, it is impossible for anyone to make 100% wrong decisions all the time. Yet, all of them portray as if they have never done anything wrong and the opposite party has never done anything good ever. How we as citizens and voters can accept that fact? It is impossible for anyone to be this good. It clearly states that they are lying and if they are lying about one thing, they can lie about many other things. How do I trust anything they say at all? Moreover, it is very risky to have someone with a lot of power to not see good in anyone at all except themselves.

My party would be completely honest with everyone. We will always accept our mistakes with purest of the hearts but will also make sure that we always have the best interest of our citizens in our hearts. It means that we want to do good for people but will not always get it right and we are ok with it. We will also appreciate other parties for their good work. We don't think politics is a zero-sum game so we don't need to bring others down for us to go ahead. Since we have the nation's best interest in mind, we will always support anything good done by anyone for the betterment of the nation. At the same time, we will ensure if someone is doing something for their own betterment or their selfish motives it is exposed to the citizens.

Transparency - If we come into power, every department will define its objectives. What are they going to achieve in their stipulated time of power. Be it 5 years, be it 1 year. For eg - the objective of the Department of Energy may look like this - Currently, we are getting 2% of our electricity from renewable energy, in the next 5 years we will increase it up to 25%. Second, make 100 new locations for renewable energy generation so that goal 2 helps to achieve goal 1. Like this every minister will make their goals public and after 5 years they will share updates on their goals, how much they were able to achieve, and how much they couldn't.

Accountability - Everyone is accountable for their goals. If they are not able to achieve their goals a written public note should be given on the reasons. There would be some natural calamities, some geo-political situations, and some factors that are out of our control but that should be shared and properly explained. Get continuous feedback from the public about the tasks that we are doing and are going to do in the future.

Humbleness - You should always be humble and be respectful of others. No attitude of any sort would be appreciated just because you are a minister or because you have done some sort of work. In politics usually, people oppose you out of spite. They will oppose your policies just because you are not of the same party as them. You have to take it objectively and see if what they are saying has any kind of merit. Try to be positive and improve yourself in serving the citizens of this country.

You'll realize that most of the things that I have mentioned here are the same as how a startup would run. This is exactly how I think we get the maximum output.

[marketingprofitmedia]

7 Surprising Ways Digital Marketing Can Skyrocket Your Business Growth

In today’s digital age, Businesses must compete fiercely to attract the interest of their target market and promote sustainable growth. Digital marketing is a new age that has evolved as traditional marketing strategies have become less efficient and expensive. Businesses can take advantage of a variety of chances to boost their growth and outperform rivals by leveraging the power of digital platforms.

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In this article, we will dive into seven unexpected avenues that digital marketing can open up for your business. From enhancing brand visibility to expanding your customer base, these strategies can yield exceptional results while aligning with the ever-changing demands of the modern market.

So, buckle up and get ready to learn how digital marketing can transform the process of growing your business. Let’s explore the less well-known routes that can help your company achieve success and prosperity.

I. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most effective digital marketing tactics. You may enhance organic traffic, brand awareness, and business growth by optimizing your website and content to appear higher on search engine results pages. Your internet presence will skyrocket once you discover the secrets of SEO!

II. Content Marketing

Content marketing is a strategic approach that involves creating valuable, relevant, and engaging content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. By consistently delivering high-quality content that addresses their needs and interests, you can establish authority, build trust, and drive significant business growth. Let your content be the magnet that pulls customers towards your brand!

III. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing has completely changed how companies interact with their target consumer. Reaching millions of prospective customers, increasing brand recognition, fostering interaction, and accelerating business growth are all possible by utilizing social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Let social media work for you and watch your company soar to new heights!

IV. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing has emerged as a powerful digital marketing strategy. By partnering with influential individuals who have a strong following in your target market, you can tap into their credibility and reach, amplify your brand message, and witness exponential business growth. Let the influencers be your brand ambassadors and watch your business thrive!

V. Email Marketing

Email marketing remains a highly effective tool for driving business growth. By building a targeted email list and crafting personalized, engaging campaigns, you can directly connect with your audience, nurture leads, promote offers, and drive conversions. Unlock the power of email marketing and witness your business flourish!

VI. Video Marketing

Video marketing has taken the digital world by storm. With its engaging and shareable nature, videos have the power to captivate audiences and leave a lasting impact. By incorporating video into your marketing strategy, you can boost brand awareness, increase engagement, and propel your business growth to new heights. Lights, camera, action for your business success!

VII. The Importance of Data Analytics

Data analytics is a game-changer in the world of digital marketing. By collecting and analyzing data from various sources, businesses can gain valuable insights into customer behavior, preferences, and trends. Armed with this knowledge, you can make informed decisions, optimize campaigns, and drive remarkable business growth. Let data be your compass on the path to success!

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a skill that can be mastered to help your business succeed online. Your website and content can be optimized to rank better on search engine results pages, attracting organic visitors, boosting brand recognition, and generating considerable revenue growth. Here are some essential SEO tips to elevate your online presence:

Keyword Research: Identify relevant keywords that align with your business and target audience’s search intent. Incorporate these keywords strategically throughout your website and content.

Quality Content: Create valuable, informative, and engaging content that resonates with your audience. Focus on providing solutions, answering questions, and offering unique perspectives.

On-Page Optimization: Optimize your website’s meta tags, headings, and URLs to make it more search engine-friendly. Ensure a smooth user experience by improving site speed, mobile responsiveness, and user-friendly navigation.

Link Building: Earn high-quality backlinks from reputable websites to establish credibility and improve your website’s authority. Focus on building natural and relevant links through guest blogging, influencer partnerships, and content promotion.

User Experience: Prioritize user experience by optimizing page load times, enhancing mobile responsiveness, and creating intuitive navigation. Search engines value websites that provide a seamless and positive user experience.

Local SEO: If you have a physical location, optimize your website for local search by including relevant location-specific keywords, creating Google My Business listing, and encouraging customer reviews.

Keep in mind that SEO is a dynamic process that necessitates regular monitoring, evaluation, and modification. By putting these important advice into practice, you can establish a solid basis for an effective SEO plan and position your company for extraordinary growth online.

Content Marketing

Content marketing has become an essential strategy for businesses to connect with their audience, establish authority, and drive significant growth. By creating valuable, relevant, and engaging content, you can captivate your target market, build trust, and position your brand as a go-to resource. Here are some key tips to excel in content marketing:

Know Your Audience: Understand your target audience’s needs, interests, and pain points. Conduct thorough research to create buyer personas and tailor your content to address their specific challenges and aspirations.

Quality Over Quantity: Focus on delivering high-quality content that offers real value to your audience. Strive for originality, accuracy, and depth in your articles, blog posts, videos, or podcasts.

Consistency is Key: Establish a consistent publishing schedule to keep your audience engaged and build anticipation. Whether it’s weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, stick to a regular content cadence to maintain a strong presence.

Mix Up Your Formats: Experiment with different content formats such as articles, videos, infographics, podcasts, and interactive elements to cater to different audience preferences and increase engagement.

Optimize for Search Engines: Incorporate relevant keywords naturally into your content to improve visibility on search engine results pages. But remember, prioritize creating content for humans, not just search engines.

Promote and Distribute: Don’t just publish your content and wait for people to find it. Actively promote and distribute it through social media, email newsletters, guest posting, influencer collaborations, and other relevant channels to expand your reach.

Engage and Respond: Encourage audience engagement by responding to comments, questions, and feedback. Foster a sense of community and make your audience feel heard and valued.

Just keep in mind that content marketing is a long-term plan that necessitates endurance, reliability, and constant development. By putting these crucial suggestions into practice, you can develop a content marketing strategy that connects with your audience, fosters trust, and supports amazing business growth.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing has emerged as a powerful tool for businesses to connect, engage, and drive remarkable growth. By leveraging social media platforms effectively, you can reach a vast audience, build brand awareness, foster engagement, and convert followers into loyal customers. Here are key tips to excel in social media marketing:

Know Your Platforms: Understand the strengths and demographics of each social media platform. Choose the platforms that align with your target audience and business goals. Focus your efforts on a few platforms to maximize your impact.

Consistent Branding: Maintain a consistent brand identity across all your social media profiles. Use cohesive visuals, messaging, and tone of voice to reinforce your brand’s presence and build recognition.

Engaging Content: Create content that resonates with your audience. Incorporate a mix of informative, entertaining, and interactive content formats such as videos, images, stories, and live streams. Encourage likes, comments, and shares to boost engagement.

Community Interaction: Actively engage with your audience by responding to comments, messages, and mentions. Foster conversations, show appreciation, and address customer queries or concerns promptly. Building a strong community cultivates brand loyalty.

Influencer Collaborations: Partnering with influencers who align with your brand can amplify your reach and credibility. Seek influencers who have an engaged audience that matches your target market. Collaborations can include sponsored content, giveaways, or guest appearances.

Data-driven Insights: Utilize social media analytics tools to track key metrics and gain insights into your audience’s behavior, content performance, and campaign effectiveness. Adjust your strategy based on data to optimize results.

Paid Advertising: Consider allocating a portion of your budget to targeted social media ads. Utilize advanced targeting options to reach specific demographics, interests, or behaviors, and drive conversions.

By putting these essential advice into practice, you can fully realize the enormous potential of social media marketing to engage your audience, connect with them, and generate significant business growth. Utilize social media to its full potential to see your brand reach new heights.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing has emerged as a powerful strategy to expand reach, build credibility, and drive remarkable business growth. By partnering with influential individuals who have a loyal following in your target market, you can tap into their influence and leverage their endorsement to captivate your audience. Here are key tips to excel in influencer marketing:

Define Your Goals: Clearly define your objectives for influencer marketing. Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving conversions, or reaching a specific demographic, having well-defined goals will help you identify the right influencers and measure success.

Authentic Alignment: Seek influencers whose values, interests, and niche align with your brand. Authenticity is crucial to resonate with your target audience and establish a genuine connection. Look for influencers who have a natural affinity for your products or services.

Research and Vetting: Thoroughly research potential influencers by reviewing their content, engagement rates, audience demographics, and previous collaborations. Vetting ensures you partner with credible and reliable influencers.

Establish Clear Expectations: Set clear expectations and guidelines for the influencer partnership. Clearly communicate your campaign objectives, desired deliverables, timelines, and any necessary disclosures or legal obligations.

Creativity and Collaboration: Encourage influencers to showcase their creativity and unique perspective when promoting your brand. Collaborate closely with influencers to ensure the content aligns with your brand voice while allowing room for their authentic creativity.

Measuring Impact: Use trackable links, promo codes, or dedicated landing pages to measure the impact of influencer campaigns. Track key metrics such as engagement, website traffic, conversions, or sales to evaluate the success and ROI of your influencer partnerships.

Build Long-term Relationships: Nurture relationships with influencers beyond a single campaign. Long-term partnerships can deepen brand loyalty and create ongoing advocacy. Invest time in cultivating meaningful relationships based on trust, transparency, and mutual value.

By following these crucial guidelines, you can maximize the potential of influencer marketing to strengthen your brand message, engage your audience, and spur considerable business growth. The reach of your brand will soar to new heights if you embrace the potential of influencer connections.

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Email Marketing

Email marketing remains a tried-and-true strategy for businesses to connect with their audience, nurture leads, and drive remarkable growth. With its direct and personalized approach, email marketing allows you to deliver targeted messages, promote offers, and build lasting relationships with your subscribers. Here are key tips to excel in email marketing:

Build a Quality Email List: Focus on growing an engaged and opted-in email list of subscribers who have shown genuine interest in your brand. Implement lead generation tactics such as website sign-up forms, gated content, and incentives to attract quality leads.

Personalization and Segmentation: Tailor your email content based on your subscribers’ preferences, demographics, and behaviors. Utilize segmentation to send targeted emails that address specific interests or pain points, resulting in higher engagement and conversion rates.

Compelling Subject Lines: Craft attention-grabbing subject lines that entice subscribers to open your emails. Use personalized subject lines, intriguing questions, or limited-time offers to pique curiosity and drive higher open rates.

Valuable and Relevant Content: Deliver valuable content that educates, entertains, or solves your subscribers’ problems. Share industry insights, how-to guides, exclusive offers, or personalized recommendations to keep your audience engaged and eager to open your emails.

Responsive Design: Ensure your emails are mobile-friendly and optimized for various devices. A responsive design enhances the user experience and ensures that your message is delivered effectively, regardless of the device used by your subscribers.

Call-to-Action (CTA): Include clear and compelling CTAs in your emails to guide subscribers towards the desired action. Make your CTAs stand out by using contrasting colors, persuasive copy, and a sense of urgency.

Test and Optimize: Continuously test different elements of your emails, such as subject lines, content formats, CTAs, and send times. Analyze the results and optimize your campaigns based on data-driven insights to improve engagement and conversion rates.

By using these crucial pointers, you may use email marketing to engage with your audience, cultivate prospects, and promote major company growth. Accept email’s personal touch, and you’ll see your campaigns succeed.

Video Marketing

Video marketing has become an essential strategy for businesses to engage their audience, increase brand visibility, and drive remarkable growth. With its captivating and shareable nature, video has the power to convey your message effectively and leave a lasting impact. Here are key tips to excel in video marketing:

Know Your Audience: Understand your target audience’s preferences, interests, and needs. Craft videos that resonate with their demographics and align with their aspirations. Tailor your content to evoke emotion, educate, entertain, or inspire action.

Plan and Script: Create a well-thought-out plan and script for your videos. Outline the key messages, storyboards, and visuals you want to convey. A clear plan ensures your videos stay focused, concise, and deliver the intended message effectively.

High-Quality Production: Invest in high-quality equipment, lighting, and audio to produce professional-looking videos. Quality production values enhance credibility, engagement, and the overall viewing experience.

Keep it Engaging: Capture attention within the first few seconds of your video. Use compelling visuals, storytelling techniques, and an energetic pace to maintain viewers’ interest. Incorporate elements like animations, graphics, or music to enhance engagement.

Optimize for Different Platforms: Adapt your videos to suit different platforms and their unique requirements. Optimize video lengths, formats, and aspect ratios to maximize visibility and engagement on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok.

Call-to-Action (CTA): Include a clear and concise CTA that prompts viewers to take the desired action. Whether it’s subscribing, visiting your website, or making a purchase, guide viewers towards the next step in their customer journey.

Promote and Share: Actively promote your videos across various channels, including social media, your website, email newsletters, and partner platforms. Encourage sharing and engagement by creating content that viewers will want to share with their networks.

By using these crucial pointers, you can maximize the potential of video marketing to engage your audience, boost brand recognition, and promote considerable business growth. Accept visual storytelling in video, and watch your material enthrall and motivate your audience. Lights, camera, action for the success of your business!

The Importance of Data Analytics

Data analytics has become a game-changer for businesses seeking to make informed decisions, optimize strategies, and drive remarkable growth. By harnessing the power of data, businesses can gain valuable insights into customer behavior, preferences, and market trends. Here are key tips to understand and leverage the importance of data analytics:

Define Goals and Metrics: Clearly define your business goals and the key metrics that align with those objectives. This will help you identify the relevant data points to track and measure success.

Collect Relevant Data: Identify and collect the right data that aligns with your business goals. This may include website analytics, customer interactions, sales data, social media metrics, or industry trends. Ensure you have reliable data sources and proper data collection methods in place.

Data Quality and Integrity: Ensure data accuracy and integrity by employing data validation techniques, maintaining data hygiene practices, and regularly auditing your data sources. Quality data is essential for making reliable and informed decisions.

Data Visualization: Present data in a visually appealing and understandable format using charts, graphs, or dashboards. Visualizing data makes it easier to identify trends, patterns, and actionable insights.

Insights and Actionable Steps: Analyze your data to extract meaningful insights and identify opportunities for improvement or growth. Use data-driven insights to make informed decisions, optimize marketing campaigns, improve customer experiences, or develop new products/services.

Continuous Monitoring and Analysis: Implement regular monitoring and analysis of your data to identify trends, spot anomalies, and adapt your strategies accordingly. Stay agile and responsive to changes in the market or customer behavior.

Invest in Analytics Tools: Explore analytics tools and software that can help you collect, analyze, and visualize data efficiently. Many platforms offer advanced analytics capabilities tailored to different business needs and budgets.

By following these crucial recommendations, you may fully utilize data analytics’ enormous potential to help you make wise judgments, improve your tactics, and significantly expand your organization. The power of data-driven insights can help your organization succeed in the dynamic digital environment. Make data your guide to success by using it as a compass!

Conclusion

In conclusion, the power of digital marketing to skyrocket business growth is undeniable. Through the seven surprising ways we have explored — increased brand visibility, targeted audience reach, cost-effectiveness, enhanced customer engagement, data-driven decision making, improved conversion rates, and scaling opportunities — businesses can tap into the vast potential of digital platforms to thrive in today’s competitive landscape.

Businesses can now reach a wider audience, establish more personal connections with their customers, and better optimize their marketing campaigns thanks to digital marketing. From leveraging search engine optimization (SEO) to content marketing, social media marketing, influencer collaborations, email marketing, video marketing, and utilizing the insights gained from data analytics, businesses can create a comprehensive and effective digital marketing ecosystem.

By implementing these strategies, businesses can establish their brand presence, attract and retain loyal customers, drive conversions, and ultimately achieve remarkable growth. However, it’s important to remember that digital marketing is a dynamic and ever-evolving field. Staying updated with the latest trends, adapting strategies, and embracing innovation are crucial for long-term success.

Let’s use the strength of digital marketing and its impressive potential to advance our businesses as we navigate the digital world. To realize the full potential of digital marketing in speeding the growth of your company, seize the possibilities, try out novel techniques, evaluate the results, and constantly improve your tactics. The moment is now to take advantage of the digital world and expand the success of your company.

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Source : 7 Surprising Ways Digital Marketing Can Skyrocket Your Business Growth

Thanks for reading my article on “7 Surprising Ways Digital Marketing Can Skyrocket Your Business Growth“, hope it will help!

[krawlernyannyan]

Late-night Swarm runs. Going in on Abundance since it's probably the best way to clear out my Pathstrider goals for right now, the "stay at 100%" one especially. As long as I can get to the True Sting with a fuckton of cash I should be fine for my other goal too.

Straight-up the craziest run I've had, even if it didn't finish. Partway into the second plane Luocha died but by that point I'd picked up so many healing blessings that I was able to clear out the board without a healer, including through an elite boss and a swarm domain. I was able to pick up Natasha at an Adventure domain but I had to call it quits once Svarog started killing my damage-dealers and it just down to a grind game between him, his bots, Natasha, and my Pre-Blazer.

Really solid run that got all the way to the third plane, and would've been able to meet the 1000 Fragments goal had I not died to an elite boss that one-shot Luocha on a random spread attack. This one at least wound up clearing the "100% HP" goal, which is still progress.

Decided to try Preservation for a change of pace. Didn't even make it past the first plane, got to the boss and Luocha got one-shot by an Aurumaton right on its last legs.

Back in Abundance. I got the clock that removes 5% of your money in every domain and somehow thought I could turn it around. I did end up getting to the final boss but True Sting took me out in the final phase and even if I had cleared it I was way under the 1000 goal.

Looked really promising as far as cash went, but then I died to an Occurrence boss on the first tile on the second plane.

This run was a dud but it was a dud on purpose - I opened with the Curio that doubles your Fragments earned at the cost of completely removing your ability to get blessings after battles, so I only ran far enough into it to get past the first boss so I can get the first plane clear bonus. The boss gave me the option of the Fool's Mask which, hey I need that one for my collection too, why not. The poison cocktail Curio I picked up almost immediately into the second plane was just icing on the cake at that point.

And at that point I'd been playing long enough to run into the server refresh so I'm calling it there. No clears and no cash goal met but I still got some work done anyway. To wit:

I'm now at 18/24 for Propagation Blessings.

Four new Occurrences, so I'm sitting at 60/78 total.

Two new Curios, so now I'm only missing one of the cuckoo clocks.

Two new achievements.

Five-Star Fund: 110/180

HSR 9-14-23

6x Abundance Trace rounds

Another dud day for Relic grinding

10x Aether Calyx rounds

In the middle of doing my daily mission I wound up stumbling into some side quests in the Alchemy Commission, including one that landed me an achievement for getting the backstory of one of the random shopkeepers.

Some bits of character building:

Warmth Shortens Cold Nights is sitting at L70 for now (and I'll probably keep it there until Lynx arrives)

My second copy of Fermata is at L60

Resolution Shines as Pearls of Sweat is at L50

March's LC, Texture of Memories, is ascended and maxed out at L80 now

Had some runs in the Swarm Disaster after that but I'm just gonna lay those out in a bit once I'm done with them all.